May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

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Senator Coburn is at it again!:

Sen. Tom Coburn cuts the fat at Pentagon in his 'Department of Everything' reportRead the Full StoryThe Washington Post, Walter Pincus
Walter Pincus writes, "I want to generate support for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in his newest budget reduction effort targeting some of the low-hanging fruit at the Pentagon. You don't have to agree with all of Coburn's recommendations in his new study, titled "Department of Everything," in which, as he told reporters Thursday, he proposed cuts that could deliver $69 billion over 10 years by reducing or eliminating programs in areas 'where the Pentagon works that have nothing to do with defense.'"

This is the most suspect analysis of the military resale benefit and one that will not stand for long as the definitive analysis on the benefit of the military resale system to the military family, the Department of Defense and to our nation. Senator Coburn believes in our nation and believes in support for our troops and their families but on this one he just does not see the forest for the trees. Rumor has it that an independent study on the value of the military resale system will hit the shelves on or about 1 December...then...Senator Coburn...You will have some explaining to do.

Gold Medal Products Co.Gold Medal has more than 350 employees committed to fueling our product lines with sales-generating concessions, as well as specialty foods machines and supplies. In addition to the network of dealers world-wide, Gold Medal has 11 branches throughout the nation to serve you. MORE

Sequestration:

Sequestration or not, US firms, DoD will take a hitRead the Full StoryDefense News, Marcus Weisgerber
Even if the U.S. Congress is able to hammer out a debt deal that avoids sequestration in January, the resulting agreement will likely result in billions of dollars in additional cuts to the Defense Department — perhaps as much as $25 billion — likely forcing the military to alter its roles and missions.

Sequestration threatens cuts everywhereRead the Full StoryPolitico, Darren Samuelsohn
The Pentagon is soaking up most of the attention around the looming budget cuts that would take place at the start of the new year, but there are a host of other national security programs caught up in the fiscal cliff debate, too.

CBO Lazers military pay, benefits as debt-deal targetsRead the Full StoryNewport News Daily Press, Tom Philpott
The Congressional Budget Office has released a report on military compensation that puts a red laser dot on near-term pay raises, beneficiary health care fees and retirement of future forces as potential cost-saving targets Congress might want to consider in any debt-reduction deal.

White House:

President weighs picks for cabinet, adviser positions Read the Full StoryThe Wall Street Journal, Peter Nicholas and Carol E. Lee
It is unclear how long Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will stay on. In Asia last week, Panetta, a former budget chief, signaled his interest in helping resolve the debate over looming defense cuts and other budget issues, which suggests he isn't eager for an immediate exit. "There are a lot of challenges right now with regards to defense issues in Washington ... budget issues, issues related to planning on Afghanistan," Panetta said. "I think the president and I are working very closely to make sure that we meet those defense challenges."

Congress:

Number of veterans in Congress continues to decline Read the Full StoryUSA Today, Susan Davis
A decade of wars abroad has not reversed the decline in military veterans serving in the U.S. Congress. When the next session convenes in January, the two chambers will have the fewest number of veterans serving since World War II.

Patrick B. Nixon
President, American Logistics Association

Small North Virginia defense contractors' pain startingThe Washington Post via Early Bird Share The threat of dramatic federal spending cuts at the start of next year is already taking a toll on small defense contractors, who say they've been grappling for months with a major slowdown in the awarding of contracts and steeper competition from large firms.More

Direct Mail Reaches Military Families Where They LiveShoppers want information and coupons in advance to help them save money by planning at home. Active duty families living in military housing receive Judy Johnson's Military Family Mailbox envelopes in the mail. Active duty families are an important segment of the market with the most potential new commissary shoppers and new brand users. Young active duty families are your core customers. Reach them at home! Direct mail gives you a “first strike advantage” over your competitors marketing only inside the store
Contact: info@MilitaryMedia.comMORE

Petraeus scandal puts 4-star general lifestyle under scrutinyThe Washington Post Share Of the many facts that have come to light in the scandal involving former CIA director David H. Petraeus, among the most curious was that during his days as a four-star general, he was once escorted by 28 police motorcycles as he traveled from his Central Command headquarters in Tampa to socialite Jill Kelley's mansion. Although most of his trips did not involve a presidential-size convoy, the scandal has prompted new scrutiny of the imperial trappings that come with a senior general's lifestyle.More

New campaign encourages companies to hire vetsArmy Times Share Evidence that employers are reluctant to hire veterans due to their potential physical and psychological injuries has prompted the Army to launch a new effort to educate businesses and encourage them to hire former service members.More

Veterans' knowledge of benefits limitedThe Miami Herald via Early Bird Share More than half of America's veterans say they have little or no understanding of the benefits due them, despite efforts over recent years to match returning soldiers with the help and services they need.More

A magical paper prevents your food from rottingFast Company Share We've all done it: We come home from the grocery store with armfuls of fresh fruits and veggies, only to sadly throw out whatever's wilting in the crisper a week later. Or we excitedly collect our produce box from the local CSA, then suffer a massive anxiety attack while trying to eat everything before it goes bad. In countries where refrigeration is scarce, the problem of how to keep the available produce fresh from farm to fork is obviously much, much worse. All in all, spoilage contributes to about a third of the global food supply going to waste each year, stuffing landfills while leaving hungry mouths empty.More

Supermarkets deck the halls with digital offersSupermarket News Share It's that time of year again, when projections of rapid growth in online holiday sales spill out like toys from an overstuffed Santa sack. About a quarter of all holiday shoppers will spend more via the Internet this year than they will in retail stores. Where do supermarkets fit into all this year-end cyber-hype? Although few observers seem to believe that retail sales of broccoli and stuffing will ever migrate completely to the e-commerce model, it is interesting to see more and more supermarkets embracing what is perhaps an even bigger online opportunity than e-tail sales: e-marketing.More

Ocean Spray hails cranberry's whole-body health benefitsProgressive Grocer Share This holiday season, the Ocean Spray cooperative reminds Americans that cranberries not only taste good but, more importantly, are good for them. Through an exclusive online video, Ocean Spray's CEO Randy Papadellis and the brand's comical grower duo banter about the berry's whole-body health benefits. More

UNIWEB - AMERICAN MADE FOR 40 YEARSUniweb continually pushes the limits in creativity and potential of every product they create, providing cost-effective solutions to upgrade existing shelving and increase product facings in the same footprint, thereby enhancing sales volumes! Uniweb also engineers modular spaces which include cash or manager’s offices, secure rooms, and back offices.more

Drought: Food prices poised to riseThe Christian Science Monitor Share The great drought of 2012 has run its course on America's farms. Grain producers have harvested shriveled corn and soybean crops. Livestock producers are cutting back herds to avoid higher feed prices. But the drought's impact on supermarket store shelves is just about to hit. Consumers can expect to start seeing the effects near the end of the year in the meat case and dairy section, spreading to the rest of the grocery store by mid-2013. The price effects are widespread because the dry spell hit crops fundamental to America's food supply.More

Commissary Web Posts

The following commissary items were posted to the ALA Website as of 10 a.m., November 21, 2012.

NOTICES TO TRADE
13-20, Store Reset Dates – Robins AFB.
13-21, Store Reset Dates – Aberdeen.
13-26, Revised DeCAF 40-15 and 40-16 Forms. NOTE: This NTT provided all new forms and examples and instructions. All dated 13 Nov 12. Forms and instructions are also posted under Doing Business with DeCA – Forms. All old forms have been removed from website. New forms may be used now must be used effective 1 Jan 13.
13-29, Nutritional Snack Review Live Test Set Date.

Robins Air Force Base Exchange celebrates grand re-openingWMAZ-TV Share The shopping mall of Robins Air Force Base, otherwise known as the Base Exchange, recently celebrated its grand re-opening. Work began on the stores and restaurants last May and is now complete, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Renovations included face-lifts to existing stores and a few new restaurants for diners. More

NRF urges Washington to fix fiscal cliff before Black FridayChain Store Age Share The National Retail Federation recently urged President Barack Obama and Congress to come up with a plan to avoid the "fiscal cliff" by Thanksgiving, saying uncertainty over the pending combination of tax hikes and spending cuts threatens consumer confidence during the holiday shopping season that begins on Black Friday.More

Gift card spending to reach record $28.79 billionChain Store Age Share The National Retail Federation's 2012 holiday consumer spending survey conducted by BIGinsight showed that 81.1 percent of shoppers will purchase at least one gift card and will spend an average of $156.86 on gift cards, the highest amount in the survey's 10-year history. Total spending on gift cards will reach $28.79 billion.More

Best Buy's turnaround plan models unlikely set of retailersThe Wall Street Journal Share Best Buy Co. Chief Executive Hubert Joly, now gearing up for the holiday shopping season, is tired of slumping sales that have prompted claims the world's biggest consumer electronics retailer by sales is on death's door. His response: Embark on a retail reinvention of the Richfield, Minn., chain that is in the vein of earlier turnarounds at home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc and Macy's Inc. (Subscription required.)More

Stores bring Black Friday to the WebThe Wall Street Journal Share As retailers gear up for the traditional shop-fest known as Black Friday, they are focusing on the mobs that line up outside stores and  increasingly  on the masses that shop online from home. (Subscription required.)More

Holiday price matching wars: If you can't beat 'em, match 'emShop.org Blog Share Price matching announcements from a number of multichannel retailers are getting quite a bit of attention this holiday season from consumers and press alike. Target, Best Buy, Wal-mart and Toys R Us are just a few of the retailers making headlines with their holiday-specific price matching strategies this year.More

NRF: Up to 147 million shoppers to visit stores, shop online Black Friday weekendNational Retail Federation Share Not since 2007 has Thanksgiving come this early, but the calendar creep won't keep millions of eager holiday shoppers from visiting their favorite stores and websites over Black Friday weekend. According to a preliminary Black Friday shopping survey, up to 147 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), a slight decrease from the 152 million who planned to do so last year. Specifically, 71 million said they would shop and another 76 million said they would wait and see what retailers have in-store that weekend.More

SOCOM secrets and the helpful SEALsStrategy Page Share The U.S. Navy made public the recent official reprimand (the lowest level of official punishment) of seven SEALs for revealing classified information about their equipment and procedures to makers of a video game. As it was explained to the media, these reprimands could be career ending events for the seven SEALs. Not likely, when the military is short of highly trained operatives like this and offer them bonuses of over $100,000 to sign up for a few more years.More

Exchange spreads holiday cheer with industry-leading return policyThunderbolt Share Nearly 20 percent of Americans will return at least one holiday gift item this holiday season, according to Lavi Industries, a provider of public guidance. To take the stress and confusion out of the return process, the Army & Air Force Exchange Service has extended the terms of its hassle-free return policy for the holidays.More

Layaway: Bygone gimmick or modern day marvel?Forbes Share While several major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Kmart and Toys R Us, have lowered or eliminated their layaway fees in efforts to spur holiday shopping, new insights from the BIGinsight™ November survey of more than 9,000 consumers reveal that this tactic doesn't seem to be leading to a rise in this place-it-on-hold-and-pay-over-time purchase behavior. Just over one in ten holiday shoppers (12.3 percent) indicates they are using or planning to use layaway when shopping for gifts this season, relatively unchanged from one year ago (12.7 percent).More

The 9 most successful retail stores in the USAUSA Today Share Apple has the most successful retail stores by a wide margin. According to RetailSails, a retail and consumer goods consulting firm, the tech giant's 372 worldwide locations sold goods at a rate of more than $6,000 per square foot of floor space in the past 12 months. The average store of the next most successful company in the United States, Tiffany & Co., sold less than half that per square foot.More

Traditional, online retailers fight for holiday dollarsRNN via WSFA-TV Share Stores are hoping the spending trend this year will continue on its upward course, including the world's largest retailer, which is banking on shoppers looking for deals early. The National Retail Federation, the trade association that represents stores worldwide, expects holiday shoppers will spend an average of $749.51 on things like gifts, decor and greeting cards. That's an increase of nearly a dollar from the previous year. It may not seem like a lot, but overall holiday spending is expected to top $586.1 billion, a 4.1 percent increase.More

The holiday sales rush is onInternet Retailer Share More merchants will offer Cyber Monday discounts than in 2011, according to e-retail trade group Shop.org. Meanwhile, some of the largest online merchants, including Amazon and Wal-Mart, are getting an early start on holiday promotions.More

Millennials form strong brand preferencesConvenience Store News Share Retailers may need to change their offerings to capture the hearts and wallets of the Millennial generation, according to "Millennial Passions: Food, Fashion, and Friends," a new report by The Boston Consulting Group. Millennials, defined as those 16 to 34 years old, are forming strong brand preferences and intentionally influencing the behaviors and brand choices of family, friends and even total strangers.More

Deloitte: 60 percent of Americans will shop over Thanksgiving weekendChain Store Age Share Sixty percent of Americans plan to shop in stores or online over the Thanksgiving weekend  up from 51 percent in 2011, according to Deloitte's pre-Thanksgiving survey. Among these weekend shoppers, 63 percent plan to shop in stores on Black Friday and 23 percent plan to shop in stores on Thanksgiving day (up from 17 percent in last year's survey). Shoppers expect spend an average of $286 over the holiday weekend  up 28 percent from the 2011 survey.More

New Navy Exchange opens its doors to customersDCMilitary.com Share Wounded warriors, active duty, retirees and their families won't have far to travel to fulfill most of their shopping needs as the new Navy Exchange store recently opened at Naval Support Activity Bethesda. More

NEX assists military children finance collegeThe Flagship Share The NEX wants to help its customers finance their children's college education through its A-OK Student Reward Program. All qualified students will participate in a quarterly drawing for monetary awards of $2,500, $1,500, $1,000 or $500 for a total of $5,500 per quarter. The next drawing will be held at the end of November.More

Please help the Dowds Family
As many of you know, Danny Dowds with Acosta lost his son Kenny last week. Kenny was 28 years old and lived in San Antonio. This was a tremendous and unexpected loss to the Dowds family. Danny has been a great supporter of the Military channel and in what I consider a close family of companies. As a father of three, I cannot imagine the pain of burying one of my children. In lieu of flowers, Danny has set up a fund to help with the funeral expenses for Kenny. Below is the information. If you can support Danny and his family at this time of need it would be truly appreciated.

Message from Danny sent on Saturday, Nov. 17:
My friends thank you so much for the kind words and prayers and offers to help us. I have set up account at Bank of America; here is the account number 4880-3057-2968, and if someone wanted to wire the routing number is 111000025. I cannot tell you how much your support is helping right now. Account will be ready by tomorrow. Let me know if you need more info. You have my deepest thanks. Account is in my name, Daniel Dowds, and my address is 3853 Centenary Drive, Denton, TX, 76210. We did not have time to go to a lawyer and set up memorial paperwork so the bank just opened the account for me for this purpose.

Funeral services for Ken Francis will be held this Wednesday, Nov. 21 at noon. The visitation will be at Castle Ridge Mortuary; address is 8008 Military Dr. West, San Antonio, TX, 78227. It will be a closed casket service.

Visitation will be from noon-2 p.m., with a procession to San Fernando #2 Cemetery, 746 Castroville Rd., San Antonio, TX, 78237, immediately following the visitation. There will be a graveside service. We would love to see all of Ken's friends come together to celebrate his life.

Fisher House briefing and tour (Link)
AAFES personnel and ALA industry members are invited to join AAFES CEO Tom Shull and other senior AAFES leaders when they visit the Fisher House at the North Texas VA Healthcare System in Dallas on Jan. 9, 2013.

MCCS director retiresDVIDS Share For most individuals, retiring once in their lifetime is an accomplishment, but having the opportunity to do so twice in 43 years is rare. Dick French, a retired Marine and former director, Marine Corps Community Services, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, officially retire for the second time on Nov. 14.More

Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation A to Z  M is MWR, the historyFort Leonard Wood Guidon Share Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation provides a variety of programs and services that create an environment where Soldiers and Families can thrive. The Family and MWR programs are proof of the Army's commitment to support and care for all who defend the nation and their family members. More

November ushers in Military Family Appreciation MonthDCMilitary.com Share November is Military Family Appreciation Month  the start of a month-long celebration of honoring the commitment and sacrifices of our nation's service members and their families. There's a lot to appreciate about military families. There's a passion and attitude among them to give it their all. Whether volunteering in their communities or with family readiness groups, military family members balance this commitment along with their careers, children, education and daily lives. More